


echium

by WolffyLuna



Category: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: (I am aware this show is set in Japan. And yet.), Australiana, Dialogue Heavy, F/F, Flowers, Slice of Life, Symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-10 23:33:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17435600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolffyLuna/pseuds/WolffyLuna
Summary: A new flower grows in the Rose Garden.





	echium

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lostboywriting](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostboywriting/gifts).



> I hope you like this! And thank you for giving me an excuse to write some flower-symbolism weirdness!

A new plant poked out from under a rosebush. It was a top heavy thing, with stems splitting and branching so much the base stem struggled under its weight. Spiky, triangular leaves covered in fine grey hairs clustered together. Purple trumpet-shaped flowers crowned it, weighing the stems down even further.

Utena squatted down, and cocked her head at it. “What is this?”

Droplets pattered on the rose leaves. Anthy didn’t pause her watering. “It’s a weed. I should get rid of it.”

Utena poked it. It swayed side to side, like a metronome. “It’s rather pretty for a weed, don’t you think?”

“It used to be a garden plant, called Salvation Jane.  Then it got out. Now it’s Patterson’s Curse.”

Utena frowned. It was hard to see what was curse-like about it. The flowers were such a deep, rich purple, it was hard to imagine anyone being upset that it ended up in their garden bed. Unless there were very picky.

Chu-Chu sniffed it, and opened his mouth wide to take a bite out of a flower.

“It’s poisonous,” Anthy said.

Utena snatched Chu-Chu, and plopped him out of the way.

Chu-Chu crossed his arms indignantly, either unaware of his imminent poisoning, or not caring.

She glared at Chu-Chu. They day Chu-Chu stopped endangering himself in weird ways was the day she could finally relax. But he was more likely to stop hitching rides in lunchboxes than stop that, so---

Utena looked at her finger, the one she had poked the Patterson’s Curse with, and ran her thumb over its pad. It didn’t seem to be turning into a rash—yet. “Is it poisonous to people?”

Anthy turned from her roses, and smiled. “Only if you eat it, Miss Utena.”

 

***

 

The plant was still there the next day, as healthy and as vibrant as only a weed could be.

Anthy watered the roses as she always did, making no attempt to remove it.

Utena reached out to grab it, to pull it out—It’d be a nice gesture, helping Anthy with the scut work of weeding, helping maintain the garden—She pulled her hand back, brushing along its hairs. It felt… _wrong_ to interfere with the garden. It was Anthy’s garden. It was hers, and hers to maintain. It was her decision to procrastinate on weeding, and Utena wasn’t going to gainsay it.

And the plant was beautiful. Prettier than the roses, though she wouldn’t say that to Anthy. The roses were far more controlled, more bound and structured. Pruned. Attached to trellises. Sculpted. Even if this was once a garden plant, it grew the way it wanted to, even if that was top heavy and a little scraggly.

“I really should get rid of that. This is a rose garden,”Anthy said.

“It’s not like anyone’s going to eat it. Well, apart from Chu-Chu.”

Chu-Chu walked along the trellises, holding out a twig and pretending to be a tight rope walker. …at least he didn’t have very far to fall, Utena thought. And wasn’t eating anything weird.

“It’s poisonous to cows and horses.”

“Well, we better make sure Nanami doesn’t come in here. …either Nanami.”

Anthy continued watering. “It’s poisonous to sheep, too. But shepherds like it.”

Utena raised an eyebrow, and turned to Anthy. “Do the shepherds not care about their sheep?”

“Oh, they do. That’s why they like it. When the rains don’t come, it’s the only thing that grows. It poisons the horses and cows fast. But it poisons the sheep slowly; each season they eat it is one year of their life lost.” Anthy put the watering can down with a hollow thud. “But they’d never reach old age if they starved.”

Utena rested her chin on her hand. “So it saves the sheep, but at a cost.”

“And that’s why they call it Salvation Jane.”

Utena cocked her head, but didn’t question the chronology. Maybe it just changed its name back and forth a bit. Maybe Anthy was just trying to make a point. It didn’t matter much. “It still sucks for the sheep.”

Anthy stepped over. “I’m finished with the watering, Miss Utena.”

“You’re never going to stop calling me that, aren’t you?”

Anthy smiled. “Of course not, Miss Utena.” 

Utena lifted herself off the ground, and they left the rose garden side by side—

\--Leaving the Salvation Jane behind.

**Author's Note:**

>   
> Here's an example of what the plant looks like. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
